Visually representing virtual fantasy sports contests II

ABSTRACT

A fantasy sports visual simulation system providing an audiovisual experience that allows contest participants and spectators to view a videogame-like model of a virtual fantasy sports contest. These simulations can occur at any time between any two or more contest participants, like mini contests within the context of a broader league. Once a league is formed and team rosters are created, numerical calculations are performed based on real-athlete statistics to determine a current “state” of performance for all virtual athletes in gameplay. Further simulation inputs can be provided by artificial intelligence, coaching, randomization, and other factors. This statistical analysis is the basis for assigning performance variables to each virtual athlete, which allows the system to calculate numerical point values based on the performance of each virtual athlete and team in this fantasy sports visual simulation system. Participants can experience the simulation through a variety of audiovisual devices, including extended reality.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/344,580 entitled “VISUALLY REPRESENTING VIRTUALFANTASY SPORTS CONTESTS,” and filed on 2016 Nov. 6, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 62/251,954 entitled “SIMULATEDVIRTUAL GAMES BASED ON DATA FROM REAL-WORLD COMPETITIONS,” and filed on2015 Nov. 6, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

A fantasy or simulation sports game or contest is an event in which eachparticipant forms one or more virtual teams that use real-world,professional, or amateur athletes, and participants compete againstother participants (or, in some cases, the operator) in competitions inwhich the outcome is determined by the statistical performances inreal-world events of the athletes on each participant's virtual team.Depending on the contest variant, a contest may be season-long induration (sometimes referred to as a “traditional” fantasy sportscontest) or may last only a single week or even a single day (“dailyfantasy sports,” or “DFS”). In the common season-long variety, no singleathlete can be on more than one virtual team in a league, participantsare usually allowed to trade athletes on their virtual teams with otherparticipants in the league, and from time to time participants decidewhich athletes on their virtual teams to play, while the other athletesare on a virtual “bench,” and thus any statistics they generate do notcount for the contest participant.

In the common weekly and daily contest varieties, participants select anew virtual team (or teams) at the outset of each weekly or dailycontest. More than one participant may select the same athletes, buteach athlete is assigned a salary value, and the selection of eachvirtual team is subject to a salary cap. In this variant, there is notrading of selected athletes and the performance of each athleteselected for a team counts for the selecting participant—i.e., noselected athlete is “benched.” In the common daily and weekly variants,as well as in the common season-long variant, the statisticalperformances of athletes in real-world events are converted into pointspursuant to a structure made known to the participants in advance, andpoints are compiled and totaled to determine the outcome of eachcontest. Participants sometimes make use of computer modeling to assistthem in the selection of athletes for their virtual (“fantasy”) teams.Alternatively or additionally, other types of games or events may alsoserve as the basis for a contest, such as educational games andcontests.

Two or more fantasy sports contest participants compete against eachother by building a virtual team of professional or amateur athletesfrom a real-world league or competition, and earn points based on theactual performance of those athletes in real-world competitions. Fantasysports contests—whether traditional or DFS—can be structured in the formof competitions where participants pay an entry fee in order toparticipate, and participants may win all or a share of a prizedepending on their overall performance in the competition. In suchcompetitions, a percentage of the entry fees often goes to the operatorof the competition as revenue. Entry fees may or may not fund the prizefund.

Sports play is conduct and action of an athlete during the game.Examples include a particular act or maneuver in a game such as: (1) inAmerican football, the action during an attempt to advance the ball downthe field, (2) in baseball, the action in which a batter or runner isput out, (3) in soccer, the action of kicking a penalty kick and havingthe opposing team's goalie attempt to stop the ball from entering thegoal, (4) in basketball, the action of dribbling to the hoop andshooting the ball into the opposing team's basket, (5) in soccer, adefender sliding toward a ball which is in control of an opponent.

There are several problems encountered by fantasy sports operators andparticipants today in the United States. First, fantasy sports operatorsand participants must comply with applicable legal statutes and relatedregulations (such as the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling EnforcementAct (UIGEA), codified at 31 U.S.C. § 3701 et seq.). In addition, theduration of a fantasy sports contest is limited by the duration of theseason of the real-world sport (e.g., the NFL football season). This canplace both an upper and lower bound on the play of fantasy sports. Forexample, operators that wish to offer participants a day-by-day orweek-by-week experience for a sport with a long season may have todevelop special game play rules to allow for a quicker result. On theupper end, operators that wish to offer participants the ability tocontinue playing a certain variant of fantasy sport contest beyond theduration of the season applicable to the relevant sport may be unable todo so because the real-world sport providing the statistics used by thefantasy sport contest has ended for the season.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates components of the fantasysport game simulation system, in one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that illustrates processing of the fantasysport game simulation system to simulate and visually represent a gamebetween two or more fantasy teams, in one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that illustrates processing of the fantasysport game simulation system to host a visually simulated fantasy sportsgame, in one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A fantasy sports game simulation system is described herein that depictsa virtual fantasy sports game based on the real-world statisticsgenerated by athletes competing in their applicable sport in actual,real-world competitions. With respect to traditional (i.e., season long)fantasy sports contests, once a fantasy sports league (i.e., group offantasy sports participants competing against each other) is formed andfantasy team rosters are created, numerical calculations can beperformed based on real-world athlete performance to determine a current“state” of all of the fantasy sport virtual athletes at any time duringthe operation of the contest. This statistical analysis is the basis forassigning performance variables to each virtual athlete, which allowsthe system to calculate numerical point values based on the performanceof each virtual athlete and team during gameplay. The fantasy sportsgame simulation system, among other things, provides an audiovisualexperience that brings to life this numerical exercise in a manner thatallows participants and spectators to view a videogame-like modelsimulating a head-to-head game between two fantasy sports teams that areinvolved in a fantasy sports contest.

These game simulations can be made to display at any time and betweenany two fantasy sports contest participants, and can depict all or apart of the virtual contest between two virtual fantasy teams within thecontext of the broader on-going fantasy sports contest. Although eachfantasy sports contest is based on the performances of real-worldathletes in real-world sports events, the fantasy sports gamesimulations contemplated herein can be run at any time—i.e., they arenot tied to the duration and schedule of real-world events or seasons.In other words, two fantasy sports contest participants could decide torun a fantasy sports game simulation between their fantasy sports teamsusing all known past data about the athletes they selected, and thefantasy sports game simulation might last only a few minutes (or hoursor days, depending on the fantasy sports game variant). In this way, thefantasy sports game simulations contemplated herein are not limited bythe season for the real-world sports on which they are based. The gamesimulations can be conducted at any time—during the season or after theseason has ended.

The fantasy sports game simulation system contemplated herein provides asoftware platform that depicts fantasy sports games between two fantasyteams within the broader context of fantasy sports contests. The systemstatistically determines the outcome of sports play interactions in avirtual game played between two virtual (i.e., fantasy) teams ofreal-world athletes which have been selected by two competing fantasysports participants. In this variant of fantasy sports contest, theoutcome of a head-to-head competition between two virtual fantasy sportsteams is determined mathematically by a computer utilizing thestatistical data resulting from the real-world performances ofreal-world professional or amateur athletes who are being depicted asvirtual athletes within the virtual fantasy sports game. The dataresulting from the real-world performances of athletes from theircurrent and/or previous season(s) are used to generate the data inputsinto the software platform and the software platform makes itscalculations on such data (e.g., to determine success or failure anddegree of success, such as yards gained, of individual simulated plays).

The system's mathematical calculations utilize one or more conditionalprobability statistics theorems, such as Bayes' theorem, whencalculating athlete interactions within the virtual game. This type ofcalculative ability can simulate real-life game play as if the selectedvirtual athletes were actual athletes interacting against one another inreal gameplay. Using conditional probability statistics, virtual athleteinteractions within gameplay can be inferred through probabilisticweighting (using real-athlete data) and can take into account variablessuch as the strengths and weaknesses of fellow teammates when assistingother teammates during gameplay.

The statistical analysis of the data (i.e., conversion into points inaccordance with the fantasy sports game rules) is depicted and displayedin the form of a simulated virtual game played between the virtual teamsand viewed on the terminals of participants and/or spectators. Thestatistical analysis of data as well as the conversion of the data intopoints may be conducted in at least three ways: 1) in real-time, as thevirtual game is taking place on the terminals of participants and/orspectators, 2) in segments, calculated immediately before the play isdisplayed on the terminals of participants and/or spectators, 3) inadvance, all the game's conditional probability calculations are made inadvance of the virtual game and displayed on the terminals of theparticipants and/or spectators as the game is played out. When using theoptional coaching feature of the system, the system would limitcalculations to versions #1 (if decisions are made during periods of thegame where coaches may have input) and version #2 to most closely mirrorcoaching inputs from real sports play. For the real time statisticaldata analysis method above (1), which incorporates virtual-athletestatistical data derived from the virtual game and factors this newperformance data (in a weighted manner) in with the real-athlete'sexisting data, the incorporation of this data is done in real-time andthe system is continuously (however subtly) updating the virtualathletes' performance inputs until the end of the contest.

The fantasy sport game simulation system has a significant impact on theproblems described above. First, it allows for continued play amongfantasy sports participants both on a shorter and longer basis than thereal-world sport season on which it is based. Participants can playquick daily virtual games and can play outside of the normal season. Inaddition, the system as designed in some embodiments may meet therequirements of the UIGEA fantasy contest exception or other applicablelaws to be exempt from that or other laws. Thus, the fantasy sports gamesimulation system may provide new ways to engage fantasy sportsparticipants including during post-season and other times that werepreviously unavailable.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation systemdetermines fantasy sports virtual teams scores mathematically by acomputer utilizing the real-world statistical data resulting from theperformances of the applicable real-world professional or amateurathletes—i.e., those athletes selected to be on the fantasy sports team.Those selected athletes can either be depicted as virtual athleteswithin the virtual game presented by the fantasy sports game simulationsystem or in the case where athlete likenesses are not licensed (iflicensing is required), the depiction of virtual athletes can befictitious and/or by using avatars. Individual real-world statisticaldata from an athlete's current and/or previous season(s) can be thebasis of data inputs into the calculations of this software platform(statistics can be based on Bayesian or another statistical theorem thatcan infer future performance of an athlete from that athlete's historicindividual performance data). The net outcome of the statisticalanalysis of the data is depicted and displayed in the form of asimulated virtual game played between the virtual teams and viewed onthe terminals of participants and/or spectators. The win/loss outcome ofthe virtual game results from the totality of the individual relevantathletes' performances from both teams.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system includesa software component for selecting contest participants byparticipant-initiated hosting. Any participant may set up variouscriteria to host a contest at any time during the day. Any registeredparticipant can log into a website or other user interface provided bythe component and stipulate the criteria of the contest, such as: a) thenumber of participants, b) the time for each game, c) one of the pre-setprize allocations for the top participants, d) the minimum or maximumlevel of games played and level of skill rating (a rating is a measureof skill of a participant), and/or e) a feature that allows a hostparticipant to set one or more variables to account for game playrandomness. The amount of randomness may be configurable based onjurisdiction or other factors in order to comply with local laws andregulations.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system includesa software component that allocates virtual money to each contestparticipant and each participant then has a limited time to allocate hisor her virtual money toward the recruitment of athletes for his or hervirtual team. The participant who bids the highest amount for eachathlete is awarded that athlete on his or her team. A second andsubsequent round of drafting may commence until each participant has acomplete virtual team. In some embodiments, at the end of the draftingrounds, if two participants have bid the same amount on the same athleteand neither participant wants to exchange that athlete for a differentathlete or raise their bid for the athlete in question, that athletebecomes ineligible for both participants within an amount of time (e.g.,one minute), and the tournament participants select another athletebased on an alternate method such as first to select, and in some casesmay use the amount they had bid on the previous athlete to select a newone.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system includesa software component that utilizes statistical data of individualreal-world professional or amateur athletes from current and/or previousseason(s) performance(s). The component can infer and calculate theoutcome of a virtual game played between any selection of athletesforming a fantasy team, and for any sport from which individual athletestatistics are available. In some embodiments, the system will notdetermine the outcome of the game beforehand. The game's result will becalculated from a summation of the individual athlete's performances,which themselves are calculated from statistical analysis. The resultmay also include some factor of randomness to vary the game outcome.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system includesa software component that depicts the statistical analysis of the dataand displays the analysis in the form of a simulated virtual game playedbetween the virtual teams and viewed on the terminals of participantsand/or spectators. In some embodiments, the fantasy sports participantshave powers to “coach” the virtual athletes similar to how a real-worldcoach might coach real-world athletes (although in some embodiments theparticipants cannot manipulate the virtual athletes through manualcontrol of their movements or actions), so as to make play calls, selectformations, and take athletes in and out of the game (just as areal-world coach could do). The coaching features add an additionallayer of skill to the fantasy sports contest that may also affect theoutcome. Availability of the coaching and other features may vary basedon jurisdictional or other concerns.

In some embodiments, in games such as football or baseball, an optionalsetting will allow the participants to cause the system not to calculatethe outcome of the virtual game in advance. Rather, the games will bebroken into individual plays, allowing each contest participant, actingas a virtual “coach,” to make decisions that affect that outcome of thatindividual play. In some embodiments, after the software component hasdetermined the actions of each athlete on each team based on statisticalprobability, the graphical representation of this result is transmittedto the terminals of participants and/or spectators.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system includesone or more server and client components that operate together over anetwork (such as the Internet) to enable communication between theparticipants and to carry out the functionality described herein.Servers may include a cloud computing or other platform to whichmultiple client devices can connect and over which they can communicate.Client computers may include one or more mobile devices, laptops,desktop computers, set top boxes, or other computing devices that canconnect to the server computer. The client devices may provide a userinterface via a web browser, custom application, or other facilitythrough which the features described herein are presented to the user(s)of the system. Where the term “terminal” is used herein, it is intendedto refer to such client devices, and not to be limited to historical“dumb” terminals.

In some embodiments, the server conducts the calculations and sendsresults back to the client computers for further processing to depictthe data as the virtual game play, and the client computers of eachparticipant and spectator that are interfaced with the server for thatparticular virtual game may watch the gameplay unfold. Inputs fromparticipants are transmitted to the server for real-time calculations,and such statistical calculations are then transmitted back to theclient computers of the participants and spectators. The entire virtualgame can be played out in this manner as calculated by the statisticalengine of the server. In other embodiments, the entire function of thesystem may transpire on a single client device, with or without aserver.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system includesa feature which, when activated, allows the fantasy sports participantsto act as coaches, so that, for example, they are able to make playcalls, select play formations, decide on fourth down (in Americanfootball) whether to punt, try a field goal or go for a first downconversion, put athletes in and out of the game, call time outs, and soforth. The coaching features add an additional layer of skill to thefantasy sports contest and can improve the gameplay for years to come.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system includesa feature allowing a host participant and/or a host company the abilityto set a random variable percentage that factors deviations from thestatistical calculations of the calculated outcomes. Such deviations areintended to mimic factors other than athletes' statistical data such aseffects of weather, an athlete with an off-day performance, thephysiological distractions of playing in away games, and so on. Theseand other factors, which may not be accounted for in athletes'historical data, can be introduced and factored into gameplay based onthe setting that a host participant selects from in the beginning of thecontest. In some embodiments, each participant can see the settings ofthe host participant prior to accepting participation in a contest. Insome embodiments, this randomness feature can be set by the host from 0%(no randomness factor) to some upper deviation and the host'scalculations will be factored into the mathematical calculations of thevirtual athletes' game play. The amount of randomness applied may varyby jurisdiction to comply with local laws and regulations.

The system described herein can be used in every team sport or otherevent that has statistical athlete data available, and the examplesherein are not meant to be limiting. Event examples include Baseball,Basketball, Football, Soccer, Handball, Rugby, Hockey, Lacrosse,Cricket, Bandy, Futsal, individual sports that can be played in a teamconfiguration such as team golf, and “eSports”—i.e., electronic videogames of skill participated in by players on organized teams. The systemmay also be applied in contexts in addition to sports, such as realityTV show performances, game shows, educational events, and so forth.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sport game simulation system providesthe ability for the “house” (the contest operator) or a contestparticipant (i) to create a private or public league with some number of(e.g., up to 20) athletes, (ii) to create a private game only invitingthe specific people against whom he chooses to play, (iii) to allowcontest participants to swap athletes, (iv) to allow participants tosave their fantasy teams for future matches, (v) to permit contestparticipants to have more than one fantasy team per contest, (vi) tocreate and manage a frequent participant reward system, (vii) to allowparticipants to save certain athlete lineups, and (viii) to createfantasy sports contests involving athletes and/or athlete statisticsfrom different time periods and eras, including using athletes atdifferent points along their careers.

In some embodiments, statistics are only relevant when compared to thesituation in which those statistics were generated. For example, ifathletes from the two best American professional football teams (whopresumably all have excellent statistics) were pitted against athletesfrom the two best American collegiate football teams (whose athleteshypothetically have even better statistics), the computer would wronglycalculate the collegiate fantasy team to win a virtual competition, eventhough the professional level of play is at a considerably higher levelthan the collegiate level of play. The system can apply a mathematicalor other mechanism to correct for this. For example, the system mayweigh the statistics so that professional teams are set to a basis thatwould allow them to generally beat collegiate teams. It might not applyin exclusively professional football league play where all thestatistics are generated by professional football athletes (and thuswould have equal weighting), but it could apply if contest participantswanted to create a fantasy contest between the worst football athletesin the American professional football league and the best collegiatefootball athletes. Other factors may also be considered, such as theweight and speed of the players can be considered to alter theirmatchups.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that illustrates components of the fantasysport game simulation system, in one embodiment. The system 100 includesa team selection component 110, a statistics access component 120, agameplay variation component 130, a gameplay simulation component 140, acoaching component 150, a play probability component 160, a visualanimation component 170, and an outcome reporting component 180. Each ofthese components is described in further detail herein.

The team selection component 110 receives from one or more gameparticipants a selection of real-world athletes whose associatedreal-world performance will form the basis for simulation of a fantasycontest based on the athletes' past statistics. The team selectioncomponent 110 allows contest participants to each form a team ofreal-world athletes that may or may not have ever played together inreal-world competitions, according to typical principles of fantasysports. What constitutes a team varies by game type. Some games may haveonly one athlete per team, while others may have quite large teams. Thesystem 100 may also receive an indication of what position a participantwants each athlete to fill. The received selection of athletes mayinclude additional athletes beyond the normal team number to allow forswitching of athlete positions during the game (e.g., using the coachingfeatures described below).

The statistics access component 120 retrieves historical statisticalinformation describing the real-world performance of each selectedreal-world athlete to act as input to the system. The Internet providesnumerous public and private sources of athlete historical statisticalinformation. The system 100 may access and/or subscribe to one or moresuch sources and access information used to simulate games. Thestatistical information may include individual athlete performanceinformation (such as yards thrown, yards run, batting average, and soforth) as well as which athletes a certain athlete has played well withpreviously, and the performance of particular athlete combinations. Thisinformation can be used as described further herein to simulateinter-athlete strengths and weaknesses. The system 100 may include oneor more revenue models (e.g., receiving money from participants oradvertisers) that allow an operator of the system to profitably pay foraccess to historical statistical information.

The gameplay variation component 130 receives game variation informationnot based on historical performance that acts as input to the system andcauses variation in the game simulation outcome. The input may includeone or more factors of randomness that perturb received statistics tocause their value to vary from one game simulation instance to the next.For example, the component 130 may simulate events that may occur forathletes in the real-world, such as injury, weather, home/awayadvantage, and other factors. Injury, for example, may cause thestatistics of an otherwise excellent athlete to fall and potentiallyeven bench the athlete for all or part of a game. Weather, for example,may cause an otherwise great kicker to miss kicks more often. The system100 may also receive limitations on which statistics are used asgameplay variations. For example, for athletes like Tom Brady that hashad a multiple decade football career, participants may wish to limit aparticular game to the statistics of 2007 Tom Brady or 2016 Tom Brady,rather than using all of this real-world athlete's available statistics.

This could even allow the playing of the same athlete on both teams,allowing 2007 Tom Brady to be played against 2016 Tom Brady to determinewho would win a virtual, simulated match up. This is one of several waysthat the fantasy sport game simulation system 100 differs fromtraditional fantasy sports and can add new and interesting gamevariations. It is also worth noting that this also differentiates thesystem 100 from previous simulation technologies that would produce thesame result each time the same set of athletes is selected. Participantinterest in the simulation can decrease when the result is too certain.Adding variation keeps participants more interested and excited by theoutcome.

The gameplay simulation component 140 manages one or more simulatedgames between the selected real-world athletes using the retrievedhistorical statistical information and the received game variationinformation. The gameplay simulation component 140 determines the startand end conditions of the fantasy contest. For example, a fantasycontest's end condition may be determined by one contest participantreaching a target score, by the expiration of an allowed time for thecontest, or by the mutual agreement of the contest participants. Startconditions may include the entry of a specified minimum number ofcontest participants, waiting for a desired start time, or any otherconditions. The gameplay simulation component 140 interacts with thecoaching component 150, play probability component 160, visual animationcomponent 160, and outcome reporting component 170 to complete aninstance of a fantasy contest and determine the result.

The coaching component 150 receives further input from the contestparticipants in between virtual game plays that affect strategy of whichplays are chosen during a simulated (fantasy) game. Unlike some systems,which could simulate a game outcome based only on the initially inputhistorical statistical information and any game variation information,the coaching component 150 allows the fantasy contest participants tovary the game outcome on a play-by-play or other basis. For example, thesystem 100 might allow contest participants to bench and un-benchathletes at each quarter or during halftime. The system 100 might alsoallow the contest participants to bias the simulation toward a runningor passing play or towards passing to a particular receiver. Thecoaching component 150 may allow any type of input that a real-worldcoach would provide to athletes during a real game, and the coachinginput may affect the simulated game in the same manner that real-worldcoaching would. This allows for much more contest participantinvolvement and for the fantasy contest outcome to be determined by farmore than a simple input of statistics.

The in-game play probability component 160 determines the outcome ofeach play within the fantasy game by applying conditional probabilitycalculations using the retrieved historical statistical information andthe received game variation information. The component 160 may alsoapply any received coaching input as well as effects caused byinter-athlete strengths and weaknesses. For example, two athletes thathave played well together in the past or that have complementarystatistics may be simulated to perform some level better than theirindividual statistics might suggest. Coaching input may lead to aparticular type of play, and the system may use conditional probabilityto determine the outcome of that type of play. The system 100 may alsoapply other factors, such as athlete fatigue for an athlete that hasbeen used for plays repeatedly (e.g., based on yardage, time in game, orother dynamic factors). The play probability component 160 can applyBayesian probability theory or other conditional probability theory todetermine whether each particular play is successful, and if so, howmuch is gained by the play's success (e.g., yardage in football).

The visual animation component 170 visually animates one or more spriteson one or more display devices associated with the athletes to visuallyenact the determined outcome of each play provided by the playprobability component 160. For example, if the game type is football,and the play is a passing play, then the component 170 animates theformation of each fantasy team at the line of scrimmage, the action ofthe athletes once the ball is snapped to carry out the particular play,and the pass from the quarterback to the receiver. These are alldisplayed visually in a way that allows the contest participants and anyspectators to be entertained by the visual simulation of the game, muchlike watching a real game. This differentiates the system from pasttext-based systems that displayed only play outcome information (e.g.,athlete X threw the ball 30 yards), without any information about whatother athletes were doing, whether the catch was particularly difficult(e.g., due to distance or active defenders), and so forth.

Visual animation can be performed in a variety of ways. The system 100may produce two-dimensional or three-dimensional displays that may varyfrom cartoonish to lifelike. Many tools are available in the art foranimating sprites based on a dataset and physical properties. Forexample, the Unreal Engine is a common tool used to providethree-dimensional animation of sprites in a virtual world that is nearlifelike. The visual animation component 170 can apply these and othertools to visually depict any particular play, as well as the behavior ofeach of the athletes and external factors (e.g., weather) during theplay.

The outcome reporting component 180 records the outcome of each play,including any change in score associated with each athlete and team.Because each game can be different due to game variation information,team selection, and so on, the system records the outcome of each playso that the contest participants can review and compare outcomes whenthe contest is over. Contest participants may want to review how manyyards an athlete ran during the game, passing yards for a quarterback orreceiver, which plays produced a change in score, and so forth. Thesystem 100 records enough information for each play to be able todisplay the information desired for any particular implementation of thesystem 100. The outcome reporting component 180 also records the totalscore and a winner/loser of each contest. The system 100 may allowcontest participants to play virtual championships or a full season,during which several games are played and the scoring across gamesdetermines the outcome of the championship or season. They system 100may provide leaderboards, reports, or other output that contestparticipants and/or spectators can view or share to gain notoriety fortheir team selection and coaching acumen.

The computing device on which the fantasy sport game simulation systemis implemented may include a central processing unit, memory, inputdevices (e.g., keyboard and pointing devices), output devices (e.g.,display devices), and storage devices (e.g., disk drives or othernon-volatile storage media). The memory and storage devices arecomputer-readable storage media that may be encoded withcomputer-executable instructions (e.g., software) that implement orenable the system. In addition, the data structures and messagestructures may be stored on computer-readable storage media. Anycomputer-readable media claimed herein include only those media fallingwithin statutorily patentable categories. The system may also includeone or more communication links over which data can be transmitted.Various communication links may be used, such as the Internet, a localarea network, a wide area network, a point-to-point dial-up connection,a cell phone network, and so on.

Embodiments of the system may be implemented in various operatingenvironments that include personal computers, server computers, handheldor laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems,programmable consumer electronics, digital cameras, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environmentsthat include any of the above systems or devices, set top boxes, systemson a chip (SOCs), and so on. The computer systems may be cell phones,personal digital assistants, smart phones, personal computers,programmable consumer electronics, digital cameras, and so on.

The system may be described in the general context ofcomputer-executable instructions, such as program modules, executed byone or more computers or other devices. Program modules includeroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, and so on thatperform tasks or implement abstract data types. Typically, thefunctionality of the program modules may be combined or distributed asdesired in various embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram that illustrates processing of the fantasysport game simulation system to simulate and visually represent a gamebetween two or more fantasy teams, in one embodiment. Beginning in block210, the system receives a definition of a fantasy team from each ofmultiple fantasy contest participants, wherein each team is defined byselecting one or more athletes that exist in the real-world and forwhich past historical statistical information is available. Contestparticipants may also select athlete roles or positions as well asalternate athletes for each role that can be substituted in duringgameplay. The system may provide a user interface, such as a web page ordialog in a mobile application, through which contest participants cansearch for, review statistics of, and select particular real-worldathletes for inclusion on a fantasy team. In some cases, contestparticipants may be engaged in a traditional fantasy sports league andmay provide as input to the system the participants' existing fantasysports team to use for the simulated games. This allows the system toaugment and provide new interest in existing fantasy sports activities.

Continuing in block 220, the system accesses past historical statisticalinformation for each real-world athlete selected for the fantasy teams.The system may access the past historical statistical information fromone or more public or private sources of fantasy sports data, includingone or more free or subscription-based databases accessed via theInternet or other network. The historical information includesinformation that can be used as input for conditional probabilitycalculations to determine whether a particular play for a particularathlete will succeed and the degree to which the play will succeed basedon the athlete's past real-world performance.

Continuing in block 230, the system receives gameplay variationinformation that specifies one or more factors that affect play outcomenot based on athlete historical statistical information. These factorsmay include one or more factors of randomness for the system to apply toeach athlete's statistical information, external events that may affectathlete performance (e.g., weather, injury, or other), limitations onwhich of an athlete's statistical information is used (e.g., aparticular real-world season or game's statistics), and so forth. Afantasy contest operator may set the gameplay variation information andmay or may not publish the parameters used so that contest participantsmay be aware of them.

Continuing in block 240, the system optionally receives coaching inputthat determines what play will occur next and how the play will beperformed. For example, the contest participants in a contest based onthe performance of football athletes may determine whether a running orpassing play is simulated next by the system, which athlete receives theball in a passing play, who shoots in a basketball game, and so on.These and other coaching inputs affect the outcome of the game, whilestill allowing the simulated game to be based on past historicalreal-world performance of the athletes. The system may provide a userinterface through which contest participants perform coaching via a webpage, mobile application, desktop application, or other method to affectthe outcome of the simulated game. Coaching input may include callingtimeouts, benching/returning athletes to the game, calling categories ofplays, and so forth.

Continuing in block 250, the system simulates the next play based on thereceived coaching input, the historical statistical information of theselected athletes, and received gameplay variation information.Simulation includes applying conditional probability theory to determinewhether the play is successful for each team (e.g., whether the offensesucceeds in scoring or advancing and whether the defense succeeds inblocking the offense), the degree to which the play is successful (e.g.,how many yards are gained, whether scoring occurs, and so forth), andthe resulting outcome of the play. The simulation may also includeselecting which athletes participate in the play, what actions areperformed by other athletes (e.g., did a receiver that did not receivethe ball attempt to get open?), and so on.

Continuing in block 260, the system visually enacts the simulated playby animating one or more sprites representing the athletes on a displaydevice of the contest participants. Animating the play includesdisplaying two-dimensional or three-dimensional figures on a screen orother display device (e.g., a virtual reality headset) so that thecontest participants can watch the play unfold in a similar manner to areal-world play for that sport. The animation may provide a lifelikeexperience that allows the contest participants to watch the game muchlike watching a real-world game on television. The visual animation setsthe system apart from all past fantasy sports systems by providing adynamic and visually appealing/entertaining depiction of a game based onfantasy sports.

Continuing in block 270, the system reports game progress following thecurrent play. Reporting game progress may include updating a score,reporting on any athletes that were affected by the play (e.g.,injuries, suspension from the game, or other outcomes), determiningwhether the game is complete, and so forth. The system may also recordthe play outcome in a database or other storage device so thatparticipants or others can review play-by-play outcome information lateror watch the visual animation of a particular play over again (e.g., areplay).

Continuing in decision block 280, if more plays are available for thesimulated game, then the system loops to block 240 to receive input fora next play, otherwise the system completes. Factors that define whethermore plays are available vary by game type. For example, in football,the game may be defined by a time limit, which may vary based on thelevel of play (e.g., high school vs. professional). For other game types(e.g., tennis) the availability of more plays may be determined bywhether a winning score has been reached by one of the athletes orfantasy teams. At the conclusion of the fantasy game, the system mayreport the final score and issue any rewards or prizes determined forthe fantasy contest winner. After block 280, these steps conclude.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that illustrates processing of the fantasysport game simulation system to host a visually simulated fantasy sportsgame, in one embodiment. Beginning in block 310, the system determinestwo or more contest participants that will compete using a fantasysports team to provide contest participants the visually simulatedfantasy sports game. The system may host contests within an existingfantasy sports league in which participants in the league are matched upin virtual simulated games to add more interest and entertainment to theexisting league. In some cases, the system may provide abbreviatedcontests in which contest participants can determine how their athleteswould fare in individual plays or a portion of a game.

Continuing in block 320, the system receives one or more hostingparameters that determine how the system will introduce variation intothe visually simulated fantasy sports game so that at least one eventduring one game differs from at least one event of another contestplayed between the same contest participants. The system may alsoreceive information such as a prize offered by the contest operator/hostor a wager between the contest participants that defines a cash or otherprize to be provided to the winner.

Continuing in block 330, the system simulates the game based on thedetermined participants and the received hosting parameters. Thisprocess is described in further detail with reference to FIG. 2. For anabbreviated game, the system may only simulate one or a handful ofplays, depending on what is requested of the system by either the hostor the participants. Simulating the game, even if only some plays,produces a visually animated enactment of the game that participants canview on one or more display devices to watch the outcome of each play ofthe simulated game.

Continuing in block 340, the system reports the outcome of the simulatedfantasy sports game. The outcome may include a score and a declarationof a winner of the game, as well as awarding any prize, money, or rewardto the winning contest participant. In some embodiments, the system mayoversee a tournament of multiple games simulated between potentiallymany participants, after which the system may award prizes to one ormore of the participants. After block 340, these steps conclude.

The fantasy sport game simulation system differentiates itself fromexisting systems in numerous respects. Unlike video game systems (e.g.,Madden Football), the fantasy sport game simulation system does notfeature live control of the fantasy athletes. While contest participantsmay be allowed to impact plays through coaching or game variationselections, participants do not generally move the athletes through aset of moves using a controller. Rather, the system simulates theathletes' movements using historical information, game variationfactors, and conditional probability theory that determines the outcomeof any play.

Unlike past fantasy sports systems, the fantasy sport game simulationsystem breaks the constraints imposed by real-world seasons and allowspast real-world historical data to be used to form simulated games thatplay out in real time. The system also provides more visualentertainment by breaking the mold of very text-based, numbers heavyimplementations of fantasy sports systems that do not provide any visualanimation for participants to watch in real time. Unlike past simulationsystems, the fantasy sport game simulation system produces a visualanimated output, not simply a text-based outcome of each play.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system usesartificial intelligence and machine learning instead of or in additionto conditional probability when calculating athlete interactions withinthe virtual game. Artificial intelligence is designed to perceive itsenvironment and take actions to maximize its chance of successfullyachieving its goals. In its advanced form, artificial intelligencemimics cognitive functions typically associated with the human mind,including learning and problem solving. This type of calculative abilitycan simulate real-life game play as if the selected virtual athleteswere actual athletes interacting against one another in real gameplay.Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, the system canprovide dynamic gameplay with realistic variations from game to gamethat still fit within the statistical model provided by fantasy sportsdata.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system workswith virtual, augmented, mixed, and/or extended reality hardware andsoftware to provide a more realistic experience. Virtual, augmented,mixed, and extended reality hardware may include headsets, controllers,cameras, or other hardware that allow the participant to see and feelexperiences like that of being in the game. For example, wearing avirtual reality headset the player may see a three-dimensional renderedvideo of one or more game plays taking place based on the simulationprovided by the system. In addition, the participant may hold or wearone or more controllers or sensors that allow the participant to feelwhat is going on in the game as well as in some cases control what theathlete is doing. As described herein, in some cases it is not desirableto have the participant change the outcome with dynamic control, butthere are many things the participant can do, such as looking around,waving, and so forth, that enhance the experience without affecting theoutcome. In other cases where dynamic control is available, theparticipant can use virtual reality controls to play, such as bythrowing a ball.

Augmented reality differs slightly from virtual reality, in that ittypically provides a feed from one or more cameras to show the realworld and then overlays some virtual items on top of that real world sothat the virtual world appears to come into the real world. Using thistype of hardware, the system can overlay a depiction of a simulated gameon top of a real field, or can let participants immerse themselves morefully in the game by seeing their actual counterparts, but overlayinggame elements like the ball, goal lines, and so forth. Mixed realitymerges real and virtual worlds to allow physical and digital objects tointeract in real time. Extended reality is an umbrella term thatincludes virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and newexperiences still being developed.

Federal and state laws have changed to allow coaching scenarios thatwere not originally available under fantasy sports exemptions togambling laws. In some embodiments, the game simulation system allowsvarious levels of participant coaching to enhance use of the system.Coaching does not necessarily imply direct control by participants ofathletes/players but may include this in some implementations. Rather,coaching input may include adjusting the probability of injuries thatcould affect the game, as well as adjusting the probability that typesof plays are called, such as running versus passing plays in football.This adds a dynamic to games that enhances participant enjoyment whilenot having to fall outside the statistical backdrop provided by thefantasy sports data.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system appliesrandomization during simulation to one or more factors that affect theoutcome of gameplay. For example, factors such as weather, athleteinjuries, incapacity or reduced performance of athletes, types of playsthat are called, and so on can all be varied by the system to providedifferences in game play from one simulation to the next. This allowsthe system to provide a varied and entertaining experience. Many ofthese features were not permissible under previous law. Even ifparticipants run the simulation many times, they will not become boredby seeing the same events over and over but will see a varied set ofevents each time because of the randomization. Note that the gameoutcomes on an aggregate basis may still fall within the statisticalhistorical data underlying the simulation, but randomization allowsspecific details of the simulation to vary in each instance.

In some embodiments, the fantasy sports game simulation system can beused by participants to apply one or more “what-if” scenarios to thegameplay data. The participants may inject additional statisticalinformation or may alter received statistical information and invoke thesystem to run the game simulation based on the injected or alteredinformation. For example, a participant may want to determine how aninjury of a particular athlete would have affected the outcome of thesimulation, how different weather could have impacted a game, howdifferent coaching choices would have impacted a game, and so forth.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments ofthe fantasy sport game simulation system have been described herein forpurposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be madewithout deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appendedclaims.

We claim:
 1. A computer-implemented method to simulate and visuallyrepresent a simulated game between two or more fantasy teams, the methodcomprising: receiving a definition of a fantasy team from each ofmultiple fantasy contest participants, wherein each team is defined byselecting one or more athletes that exist in the real-world and forwhich past historical statistical information is available; accessingpast historical statistical information for each real-world athleteselected for the fantasy teams; receiving gameplay variation informationthat specifies one or more factors that affect play outcome not based onathlete historical statistical information; simulating a current playbased on the accessed historical statistical information of the selectedathletes and received gameplay variation information, wherein simulationincludes determining 1) whether the play is successful for each team, 2)a degree to which the play is successful, and 3) a resulting outcome ofthe play, wherein determining the resulting outcome includes resolvingdifferences between separate real-world events in which the real-worldathletes participated as reflected in the accessed historicalstatistical information to infer and calculate the outcome of a virtualgame played between the athletes that allows participants to view avideogame-like model simulating a head-to-head game between two fantasysports teams to simulate real-life game play as if the selected virtualathletes were actual athletes interacting against one another in realgameplay; visually enacting the current play by animating one or moresprites representing the athletes on a display device of the contestparticipants; reporting game progress following the current play; and ifmore additional plays are available for the simulated game, thenrepeating the above steps of simulating, visually enacting, andreporting to handle the one or more additional plays until the simulatedgame is complete, wherein an outcome of the simulated game between twoor more fantasy teams is determined mathematically without live playercontrol of the athletes or coaching of the athletes before plays by thefantasy contest participants by a computer utilizing the historicalstatistical information resulting from real-world performances ofreal-world athletes who are depicted as virtual athletes within thesimulated game.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein applying determiningwhether the play is successful comprises applying artificialintelligence and/or machine learning to determine whether the play issuccessful for each team, the degree to which the play is successful,and the resulting outcome of the play.
 3. The method of claim 1 whereindetermining whether the play is successful comprises applyingconditional probability theory to determine whether the play issuccessful for each team, the degree to which the play is successful,and the resulting outcome of the play.
 4. The method of claim 1 whereinvisually enacting the current play comprises displaying the current playon virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and/or extendedreality hardware used by one or more participants to become immersed inthe simulated game.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein gameplay variationinformation includes one or more randomization effects to vary gameplayin the simulated game.
 6. A computer system for visually representingvirtual fantasy sports contests, the system comprising: at least oneprocessor and memory configured to execute software instructionsembodied within the following components; a team selection componentthat receives from one or more game participants a selection ofreal-world athletes whose associated real-world performance will formthe basis for simulation of a fantasy contest based on the athletes'past statistics; a statistics access component that retrieves historicalstatistical information describing real-world performance of eachselected real-world athlete to act as input to the system; a gameplayvariation component that receives game variation information not basedon historical performance that acts as input to the system and causesvariation in the game simulation outcome; a gameplay simulationcomponent that manages one or more simulated games between the selectedreal-world athletes using the retrieved historical statisticalinformation and the received game variation information, whereinsimulation includes determining 1) whether the play is successful foreach team, 2) a degree to which the play is successful, and 3) aresulting outcome of the play, wherein determining the resulting outcomeincludes resolving differences between separate real-world events inwhich the real-world athletes participated as reflected in the accessedhistorical statistical information to infer and calculate the outcome ofa virtual game played between the athletes that allows participants toview a videogame-like model simulating a head-to-head game between twofantasy sports teams to simulate real-life game play as if the selectedvirtual athletes were actual athletes interacting against one another inreal gameplay; an in-game play probability component that determines theoutcome of each play within the fantasy game by applying calculationsusing the retrieved historical statistical information and the receivedgame variation information; a visual animation component that visuallyanimates one or more sprites on one or more display devices associatedwith the participants to visually enact the determined outcome of eachplay provided by the play probability component; and an outcomereporting component that records the outcome of each play, including anychange in score associated with each athlete and team, wherein anoutcome of the fantasy contest between two or more fantasy teams isdetermined mathematically without live player control of the athletes orcoaching of the athletes before plays by the fantasy contestparticipants by a computer utilizing the historical statisticalinformation resulting from real-world performances of real-worldathletes who are depicted as virtual athletes within the fantasycontest.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein determining whether the playis successful comprises applying artificial intelligence and/or machinelearning to determine whether the play is successful for each team, thedegree to which the play is successful, and the resulting outcome of theplay.
 8. The system of claim 6 wherein determining whether the play issuccessful comprises applying conditional probability theory todetermine whether the play is successful for each team, the degree towhich the play is successful, and the resulting outcome of the play. 9.The system of claim 6 wherein visually animating plays comprisesdisplaying the current play on virtual reality, augmented reality, mixedreality, and/or extended reality hardware used by one or moreparticipants to become immersed in the simulated game.
 10. The system ofclaim 6 wherein game variation information includes one or morerandomization effects to vary gameplay in the simulated game.
 11. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructionsfor controlling a computer system to host a visually simulated fantasysports game, wherein the instructions, upon execution, cause a processorto perform actions comprising: determining two or more contestparticipants that will compete using two or more fantasy sports teams toprovide contest participants a visually simulated fantasy sports game;receiving one or more hosting parameters that determine how the systemwill introduce variation into the visually simulated fantasy sports gameso that at least one event during one game differs from at least oneevent of another contest played between the same contest participants;simulating the game based on the determined participants and thereceived hosting parameters, including visually representing the playsof the game on a display device, wherein simulation includesdetermining 1) whether the play is successful for each team, 2) a degreeto which the play is successful, and 3) a resulting outcome of the play,wherein determining the resulting outcome includes resolving differencesbetween separate real-world events in which the real-world athletesparticipated as reflected in the accessed historical statisticalinformation to infer and calculate the outcome of a virtual game playedbetween the athletes that allows participants to view a videogame-likemodel simulating a head-to-head game between two fantasy sports teams tosimulate real-life game play as if the selected virtual athletes wereactual athletes interacting against one another in real gameplay; andreporting an outcome of the simulated fantasy sports game, including ascore and a declaration of a winner of the game, wherein the outcome ofthe simulated fantasy sports game between the two or more fantasy teamsis determined mathematically without live player control of the athletesor coaching of the athletes before plays by the fantasy contestparticipants by the computer system utilizing historical statisticalinformation resulting from real-world performances of real-worldathletes who are depicted as virtual athletes within the simulatedfantasy sports game.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 11 wherein determining whether the play is successfulcomprises applying artificial intelligence and/or machine learning todetermine whether the play is successful for each team, the degree towhich the play is successful, and the resulting outcome of the play. 13.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 whereinvisually representing the plays comprises displaying the current play onvirtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and/or extendedreality hardware used by one or more participants to become immersed inthe simulated game.